CFL returning to Ottawa after city approves stadium plan

The Canadian Football League will have nine teams again, as early as 2014.

Ottawa City Council approved plans Wednesday to build a stadium, plus a residential and retail complex, on the site of Frank Clair Stadium.

The vote, which passed 21-3, was the final hurdle for the league and the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) to bring a CFL franchise back to Ottawa for the first time since 2006, when the Ottawa Renegades folded after four seasons.

The Renegades were preceded by the Ottawa Rough Riders, founded as the Ottawa Football Club in 1876 and nine-time winners of the Grey Cup. The Riders folded in 1996.

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“Today’s positive City of Ottawa council vote means a beautiful new stadium and, as early as 2014, a proud new franchise that will make its community proud and our league even stronger,” CFL commissioner Mark Cohon said in a statement.

“This is a great day for our league and, for all of us who understand its important place in the culture of Canada, a great day for our country.”

Cohon announced in March 2008 that an ownership group, including Ottawa 67’s owner Jeff Hunt, had been tentatively awarded a CFL franchise.

OSEG includes Hunt, Roger Greenberg, chairman and CEO of The Minto Group, John Ruddy, president of Trinity Development Group, Bill Shenkman, chairman of the Shenkman Group of Companies, and John Pugh, CEO and owner of the Ottawa Fury Soccer Club.

“Our dream of a Canadian Football League franchise, which has always been the heart of this plan, is becoming a reality and we are absolutely thrilled and humbled,” Greenberg also said in the league’s statement.

“Now it’s time to accelerate the important work of not only building a landmark destination that inspires and excites our city and region, but a business organization and football team that can and will compete for the Grey Cup.”

Ottawa was originally awarded the 102nd Grey Cup in 2014, but when Ottawa community groups legally challenged OSEG and the city’s plans to redevelop Frank Clair Stadium, Cohon announced in June the league would be looking at other cities.

The Ottawa Sun reported in August that the CFL and the city were discussing the possibility of hosting the Grey Cup in either 2017 or 2018.

The still unnamed franchise hired former CFL quarterback and assistant coach Rick Worman as a scout in April. If the stadium plans remain on schedule, the league will allow Ottawa to draft underclassmen, who intend on returning to school, in the 2013 Canadian draft.

“The board of governors and I fully appreciate what this means to our fans in Ottawa and across the country and we share their excitement,” Cohon said.

“We have pursued expansion to Ottawa in a prudent and businesslike manner, determined to ensure we had the right owners and the proper conditions in place for success in the nation’s capital, which will ultimately make all of our teams stronger. I am confident that, with today’s news, we are achieving our goals.”